US farmers could take a significant hit from trade war

A 25 percent duty on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods by the Trump administration was set to come into effect on Friday. Beijing has said it would retaliate immediately. A beef farmer in Missouri, Casey Guernsey, said rural communities were dependent on agriculture. It was feared the tariffs would affect farmers. China’s new tariffs would affect soybeans, wheat, corn, cotton, pork and U.S. autos. They could cost farers in the U.S a great amount according to Mr Guernsey. He emphasised they could not afford any increase in price as the difference between making and losing money per head sometimes was just a few dollars. President Donald Trump proposed tariffs last March in an effort to fix what he saw as unfair trading practices. Tariffs against Canada, Mexico and the EU came into effect on 1 June. Chairman of the American Soybean Association, Ron Moore, said the tariffs were devastating to soybean farmers.